macfuse - Google Code

macfuse - Google Code: "SpotlightFS is a MacFUSE file system that creates true smart folders, where the folders' contents are dynamically generated by querying Spotlight. This differs from Finder's version of smart folders, which are really plist files with a .savedSearch file extension. Since SpotlightFS smart folders are true folders, they can be used from anywhere--including the command line."

Xiaxue.blogspot.com - Everyone's reading it.

Xiaxue.blogspot.com - Everyone's reading it.: "No pork!"

schopeng.htm: Thirty - Eight Ways to Win an Argument, by Schopenhauer

Thirty - Eight Ways to Win an Argument, by Schopenhauer: "from Schopenhauer's 'The Art of Controversy'"

Family Research Council: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 "WT05C01"

Family Research Council: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 "WT05C01": "The Bohemian Temptation: Francis Schaeffer and the Agenda of Culture Apologists - Nov. 17, 2004"

AN ACADEMY CLASSIC

AN ACADEMY CLASSIC: "On the folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B
Steven Kerr

Academy of Management Executive, 1995, 9(1): 7-14



This article, updated for AME, needs no introduction.1 Even today, the original article is still widely reprinted. Now part of the lexicon, it truly qualifies as an Academy of Management Classic. For almost twenty years, its title has reminded executives and scholars alike—'it's the reward system, stupid!' We hope you enjoy the update!"

Six steps for learning difficult subjects quickly

Six steps for learning difficult subjects quickly: "Here's a strategy I've found useful for learning dry and difficult material quickly. At various times, I've used it to build up my knowledge of subjects like economics, investing, writing and computer programming languages. Some people have been surprised at how fast I can learn these kinds of skills, but I think anyone can do it with the right plan. Of course, you can use this to teach yourself interesting things as well, but most people don't have any problem learning stuff that's fun."

Online Education

Online Education: "Massive Resource List for All Autodidacts"

instructables : Invisible Book Shelf

instructables : Invisible Book Shelf: "A friend at work gave me a stack of Stephen King books that were collecting dust in his garage. My previous two shelves from the introduction were free books that my public library was trying to get rid of.
Use a book you don't mind never reading again."

instructables : Etched Minty Valentines Candy Box

instructables : Etched Minty Valentines Candy Box: "The idea is to use electricity and salt water to etch an image into the top of an altoids tin. The same process can be used to actually cut the image all the way through if allowed to go long enough. I'll explain the principles behind this as we go along. "

PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about "Design and Making Things" � Archive � Bruce Osborn: Oyako - Portraying Japanese Generations

PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about "Design and Making Things" � Archive � Bruce Osborn: Oyako - Portraying Japanese Generations

In 1982 American photographer Bruce Osborn began what has become his lifelong work: the Oyako series. For the last 25 years he took pictures of one parent with one child in a white studio setting. Bruce even introduced its own version of the Japanese “Oyako No Hi” (parent and child) day: he organizes a huge photo session every year. After some time, Bruce would even repeat the same parent-child shoot to reveal the significant changes in the relationship between mother and daughter for example, the differing characteristics of fashion changing over the years or simply documenting people getting older.

Double Wires

Double Wires

AtomFilms: Me

AtomFilms: Me: "The idea is simple, the result is stunning. On November 1, 2001, artist Ahree Lee began taking daily digital snapshots of her own face; and she has continued this project every day since. In 2004, Lee compiled all of her daily images into a montage with a wistful musical score. In the fast-paced parade of images you're about to see, each second of screen time represents about one week's worth of pictures."

The Cute Side of The Force

Buzz.Pics -- The Cute Side of The Force

ZWOK - playstation.com

ZWOK - playstation.com game

AtomFilms: Hardware Wars Teaser

AtomFilms: Hardware Wars Teaser: "A tribute to 1978, when disco was king, and Star Wars ruled the box office… yet there was something missing. The world was ready for what would become known as the parody that began the fan film craze that made the Star Wars Fan Film Awards possible. Using normal household appliances, Ernie Fosselius created arguably the 12 funniest minutes of film in this or any universe."

Firebug - Web Development Evolved

Firebug - Web Development Evolved: "Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page."

IAQ Source :: Panasonic Bathroom Fan with Heater and Lights FV-11VHL1

IAQ Source :: Panasonic Bathroom Fan with Heater and Lights FV-11VHL1: "This unit not only ventilates the air in your room, but provides overhead lighting as well. Two 13-watt compact fluorescent lamps will provide plenty of overhead lighting while the convenient, 4-watt nightlight will help you find your way through the room in the dark."

1993 Internet Revolution

1993 Internet Revolution: "Have you heard about the new computer network called ``Internet``?"

Ask Tom: On ROWNUM and Limiting Results

Ask Tom: On ROWNUM and Limiting Results: "I use it for two main things:

* To perform top-N processing. This is similar to using the LIMIT clause, available in some other databases.

select *
 from
(select *
  from t
 order by unindexed_column)
where ROWNUM < :N;

* To paginate through a query, typically in a stateless environment such as the Web.

select *
 from ( select /*+ FIRST_ROWS(n) */
 a.*, ROWNUM rnum
     from ( your_query_goes_here,
     with order by ) a
     where ROWNUM <=
     :MAX_ROW_TO_FETCH )
where rnum  >= :MIN_ROW_TO_FETCH;

"

BLACKFIVE

BLACKFIVE: "Japanese Fishing Boat Captain Makoto Nagano, 34 years old, has tried for nine years to win the Ninja Warrior competition in Japan. Only three men have ever received the title. It's about ten minutes long, so, if you enjoy those wacky Japanese game shows and think Jackie Chan is awesome, have a view:"

A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

macosxhints.com - 10.3: Switch Terminal window focus with mouse movement

macosxhints.com - 10.3: Switch Terminal window focus with mouse movement: "A feature that I've long waited for -- window focus that follows the mouse between terminal windows -- has finally been added (in a hidden manner) to the 10.3 Terminal application. From the Terminal, type:

defaults write com.apple.Terminal FocusFollowsMouse -string YES"

TheStar.com - sciencetech - When ma�ana is too soon

TheStar.com - sciencetech - When manana is too soon: "A psychologist in Calgary thinks he knows why we procrastinate

No other anguish is quite like that of the procrastinator. He knows that the job has to get done, that putting it off just makes it harder, that the worry is worse than the work. And yet he can't ... quite ... get ... started.

Procrastination seems built into human nature -- the ancient Roman orator Cicero fretted about it, as did the Greek historian Thucydides.

Today, 95 per cent of people say that they sometimes procrastinate.

The real problem, though, is the 20 per cent of us who qualify as chronic procrastinators. These are people who procrastinate so routinely that their work, finances or personal relationships suffer because of it."

The China Blog - TIME

The China Blog - TIME: "One notable invention is chair skating, a seemingly unique arrangement that involves propelling yourself around a frozen pond on a rickety chair that has a couple of metal skids welded to its legs. Equipped with a couple of lethal looking icepicks, my two children managed to spend a gleeful half hour careening around the ice."

putting debug output into cx_Oracle execute

class MyConnection(cx_Oracle.Connection):
def cursor(self):
return MyCursor(self)
class MyCursor(cx_Oracle.Cursor):
def execute(self, *args):
print 'execute:',args
return cx_Oracle.Cursor.execute(self, *args)
cx_Oracle.connect = MyConnection

Courtesy of Lars, how to make a debugging execute.

oracle tracing

oracle tracing
FLOWS schema flows_010309 has been granted "alter session" & "create any trigger"

SQL> connect flows_010309@rcdb
Enter password:
Connected.
SQL> create or replace trigger login_trigger
 2  after logon on database
 3  begin
 4       execute immediate 'alter session set sql_trace=true';
 5  end;
 6  /

GigaVox Media, Inc. » The Levelator™

GigaVox Media, Inc. » The Levelator™: "So what is The Levelator? It's software that runs on Windows or OS X (universal binary) that adjusts the audio levels within your podcast or other audio file for variations from one speaker to the next, for example. It's not a compressor, normalizer or limiter although it contains all three. It's much more than those tools, and it's much simpler to use. The UI is dirt-simple: Drag-and-drop any WAV or AIFF file onto The Leveler's application window, and a few moments later you'll find a new version which just sounds better.

Have you ever recorded an interview in which you and your guest ended up at different volumes? How about a panel discussion where some people were close to microphones and others were not? These are the problems the post-production engineers of Team ITC solve every day, and it used to sometimes take them hours of painstaking work with expensive and complex tools like SoundTrack Pro, Audacity, Sound Forge or Audition to solve them. Now it takes mere seconds. Seriously. The Levelator is unlike any other audio tool you've ever seen, heard or used. It's magic. And it's free."

Akai EWI EWI4000s MIDI Wind Controller at Patchman Music

Akai EWI EWI4000s MIDI Wind Controller at Patchman Music: "Akai EWI. Patchman Music is proud to announce the Akai EWI4000s MIDI Wind Controller. This new wind controller from Akai is one of the most exciting advancements in the area of MIDI wind controllers to come along in years."

Oracle Locks

Oracle Locks: "Oracle Table Locks
Version 10.2"

Oracle Locks

Oracle Locks: "Oracle Table Locks
Version 10.2"

Performance: Diagnosing Performance Problems

Performance: Diagnosing Performance Problems: "Testing Extended SQL Tracing. Try it out. All it takes to see your first trace file is a simple SQL*Plus session like this one:

alter session
set timed_statistics=true;
alter session
set max_dump_file_size=unlimited;
alter session
set tracefile_identifier='Hello';
/* only in Oracle Database 8.1.7
and later */
alter session
set events '10046 trace name context forever, level 12';
select 'Howdy, it is '||sysdate from dual;
exit;

"

macosxhints.com - SleepWatcher - A utility to run tasks on sleep/wake

macosxhints.com - SleepWatcher - A utility to run tasks on sleep/wake: "Automatically establish internetconnections via the Cisco VPNClient on start- and wake-up"

Mac OS X CLI Utility to Capture Stills From iSight Camera

Hacks: "Mac OS X CLI Utility to Capture Stills From iSight Camera


Update: now compiled as an Universal Binary for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger

Recently got an iSight camera and could not find a CLI capture utility around. Nobody ever needed or wrote this before ? Most unlikely. Anyway, here is my version, you may wish to download. Here is how it's being used in a shell:


$ ./isightcapture myimage.jpg"

Harry Clark Plumbing and Heating - Plumbing

Harry Clark Plumbing and Heating - Plumbing: "On Demand Water Heater

Takagi has been a manufacturing leader in Japan for over 50 years. Takagi has made on demand water heater for the US market and currently has four models available."

Dragonfly by Wowwee: The World's First Radio-Controlled, Fluttering Insect: VIDEO - Popular Mechanics

Dragonfly by Wowwee: The World's First Radio-Controlled, Fluttering Insect: VIDEO - Popular Mechanics: "This flying insect from WowWee may look like a robot — like the company's huge hits Roboreptile and Robosapien — but it's not. The FlyTech Dragonfly is the world's first commercial, radio-controlled ornithopter; that's kind of a mouthful, but basically it flies by flapping instead of using propellers as a main thrus"

Recycle Design

atelier v.: "Gallery of interesting recyclable projects"

Ironic Sans: Celebrity Patents

Ironic Sans: Celebrity Patents: "So, inspired by Google’s new easy-to-use patent search, I decided to dig up some of the celebrity patents that have been issued over the years. The following 18 20 patents are all by celebrities not usually known for being inventors. You can follow the links to the actual patents to learn more about each one."

Broken Thermometer Causes 100 to Respond to Mercury Spill - NewsChannel 9 WSYR

Broken Thermometer Causes 100 to Respond to Mercury Spill - NewsChannel 9 WSYR: "CARMEL, N.Y. (AP) - It was quite a New Year's Eve at the home of Richard Berger in Carmel - in Putnam County. Someone in the house broke a rectal thermometer and the family called 911 around 10:30 to report the small mercury spill.

Several dozen volunteers from the Carmel Fire Department responded to the house on Brookview Drive.

Fire Chief Darryl Johnson says mercury is a hazardous material that can cause stomach problems if inhaled.

Men wearing protective gear used wet sponges to clean up the puddle.

It was packaged and brought to the Carmel firehouse where the county health department will dispose of it today.

The Berger family was not hurt."

Free Will: Now You Have It, Now You Don’t - New York Times

Free Will: Now You Have It, Now You Don’t - New York Times: "As a result, physicists, neuroscientists and computer scientists have joined the heirs of Plato and Aristotle in arguing about what free will is, whether we have it, and if not, why we ever thought we did in the first place.

“Is it an illusion? That’s the question,” said Michael Silberstein, a science philosopher at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. Another question, he added, is whether talking about this in public will fan the culture wars.

“If people freak at evolution, etc.,” he wrote in an e-mail message, “how much more will they freak if scientists and philosophers tell them they are nothing more than sophisticated meat machines, and is that conclusion now clearly warranted or is it premature?”"

Street Tech :: hardware beyond the hype

Street Tech :: hardware beyond the hype: "THUMBNAIL GUIDE TO SOLDERING (A Street Tech How-To)

Soldering is not some rarified art. It does take a little bit of patience and some practice, but mainly, it's a question of having the proper tools to do it right, carefully following a few simple steps, and steering clear of a few common pitfalls. Let's take these one at a time:"

Music of the Hemispheres - New York Times

Music of the Hemispheres - New York Times: "Then he played another, even shorter snippet: a single chord struck once on piano. Again I could instantly figure out what it was: the first note in Elton John’s live version of “Benny and the Jets.”

Dr. Levitin beamed. “You hear only one note, and you already know who it is,” he said. “So what I want to know is: How we do this? Why are we so good at recognizing music?”"

Dreams Deferred - New York Times

Dreams Deferred - New York Times: "Remarkably, then, our pattern of consolidated sleep has been a relatively recent development, another product of the industrial age, while segmented sleep was long the natural form of our slumber, having a provenance as old as humankind. (Homer even invoked the term 'first sleep' in 'The Odyssey.') For experts like Dr. Thomas Wehr, who conducted the experiments at the National Institute of Mental Health, some common sleep disorders may be nothing more than sleep's older, primal pattern trying to reassert itself — 'breaking through,' as Dr. Wehr has put it, into today's 'artificial world.'"

Empty-Stomach Intelligence - New York Times

Empty-Stomach Intelligence - New York Times: "Hunger makes the best sauce, goes the maxim. According to researchers at Yale Medical School, it may make quadratic equations and Kant’s categorical imperative go down easier too. The stimulation of hunger, the researchers announced in the March issue of Nature Neuroscience, causes mice to take in information more quickly, and to retain it better — basically, it makes them smarter. And that’s very likely to be true for humans as well."